Here's a play by play, in case you're interested (and so I remember how if I ever do it again).
We pulled up old carpet and linoleum, and then scraped off the gook left on the floor with a heat gun and putty knife. This is not the fun part.
Then came sanding. We used this little Dremel tool at first, but then broke down and bought a belt sander. Worth the money!
Finally, it was time to paint! I bought a Pittsburgh Paint called "Break-Through!". It's an acrylic so clean-up was easy and it's supposed to be "ultra-durable". Also, I could buy it in quarts rather than having to spend more buying gallons (which is how a lot of floor paint is sold). I put on three coats. I waited a few days before going further to give it time to "cure".
Using my clear quilting ruler and a pencil, I drew a grid spacing the lines six inches apart (the lines don't show up in the photo, but they are there). Then I took painter's tape and put it down around half of what would become the dark sqaures.
I painted inside those squares with the charcoal paint, three coats. Then off came that tape!
Again, I waited a few days for curing, then taped off the remaining squares and gave them three coats.
That tape came off and we were done! Don't you love the way it reflects in our shiny black front door? And don't you love the way Pip insisted in being in virtually every picture?!!
By the way, we didn't put any kind of sealer on top of the paint. This paint isn't supposed to need it.
If you prefer, there are a lot of great looking ways to stencil a floor (or walls or furniture). I found some good stencils at Hobby Lobby and at these sites:
http://www.royaldesignstudio.com/
http://www.stencil-library.com/
http://www.mbhistoricdecor.com/Floor/index.html
DISCLAIMER: No small dogs were harmed or painted during the completion of this project.
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